


Go Running

by entirely_too_tall



Series: NurseyDex Week 2017 [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Neighbours, but they don't know it, it's a pun, meet cute, so they go running, you'll get it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 15:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11512509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/entirely_too_tall/pseuds/entirely_too_tall
Summary: Derek has a routine. If his routine happens to include running past a very cute redhead with the most fiery hair and charming constellation of freckles Derek has ever seen, well, nobody has to know.Will lives by routines. If his routine happens to include running past a stunningly tall, dark and handsome someone who runs in the other direction every time, well, all the more reason to leave his apartment.





	Go Running

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1 theme: Get Together/Mutual Pining
> 
> Find the event and themes [here](https://nurseydexweek.tumblr.com/post/162330031741/nurseydex-week-2017-july-16-22).
> 
> Partly inspired by the movie [Turn Left, Turn Right](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn_Left,_Turn_Right) and the concept of 擦肩而过 that formed the basic concept of the movie. It literally translates to "brush of the shoulder walking by", meaning missing an opportunity that came close by.
> 
> Check Please and its characters belong to Ngozi, I am only expanding upon it for our collective non-commercial pleasure.

Derek has a routine, which is a new development for him, but he’s enjoying it. He heads out to class in the morning, because, ugh, all his classes are only in the a.m., and then he leaves his stuff at his desk, and makes the half-hour jog back to his apartment for a shower before having lunch in the neighborhood. He likes having his afternoons free to catch up on work before taking the bus back to Samwell to teach ESL community night classes as part of his English Education supplemental. If his routine happens to include running past a very cute redhead with the most fiery hair and charming constellation of freckles Derek has ever seen, well, nobody has to know.

 

Will lives by routines, and is finally glad to have established one after some haggling with his supervisor. He takes the early morning shift doing IT maintenance before the daily usage spike hits, and then has the afternoon off, before logging back in for IT support in the evening to resolve any issues and keep things in check. He’s also pleased to have finagled a work-from-home situation where he only needs to check in personally once a week to the Samwell IT Services office. Nonetheless, he makes the effort jog out to campus to meet his co-workers and chat for a bit, before heading for the fantastic campus gym and taking advantage of his employee perks. If his routine happens to include running past a stunningly tall, dark and handsome someone who runs in the other direction every time, well, all the more reason to leave his apartment.

 

The weather is starting to get colder now, and Derek is finding it harder to go running, more and more tempted to just keep hanging around on campus till after his night classes, but the thought of seeing Red Beauty again (yes, he’s taken to calling his mystery beau Red Beauty, he’s so far gone already) keeps him heading out into the cold. It doesn’t help that Red Beauty’s spicy orange hair and rich amber eyes just meld into the fall season, and has Derek churning out Ode after Ode to Fall. His advisor has started threatening to ban nature-related submissions.

 

The weather is getting too cold for running, but Will is still jogging out to campus on the regular. He just wants to meet his co-workers, or else it’s too lonely at home. He’s using the gym, he gets free rock climbing there! It has absolutely nothing to do with the extremely alluring man who runs by him and glances over with those deep evergreen eyes, wicked curls and the most effortless looking 5-o-clock shadow. Definitely not. He doesn’t have an answer, though, when his supervisor asks why he bothers to come out every day and not just simply work in the office.

 

It’s finally happened, Derek gets called to take over for a class while his advisor is away at a conference, and he misses his run. It’s fine, he’s not affected, certainly not heartbroken, that would be silly. He mopes his way through the session, making the barest effort to teach an engaging class and the students all probably hate him, but it doesn’t even matter, he’s just a stand in anyway. Derek finally sets foot into the campus gym to use the indoor tracks (running machines are so boring, you never go anywhere), and nearly trips over himself as he spots Red Beauty re-racking weights and heading into the locker rooms. Derek can’t follow him in, that would be creepy, so he goes for his laps around the track, keeping an eye out for Red Beauty but never catching sight of him. It’s disappointing, but hopeful too, because now Derek knows where his muse is heading towards on his runs. Not that Derek is intending to follow him around, god that would be creepy.

 

It’s finally happened, Will begrudgingly goes for his run in this frankly frigid weather and doesn’t get even a glimpse of Green Eyes to make up for his effort. He’s kinda salty about it, and all his co-workers can tell, asking him if he’s ok when he doesn’t say much and just mopes around the office complaining about the weather. His supervisor even offers him the rest of the day off, worried he might be sick, but Will assures them he’s fine, that it’s just one of those moody days for him. Still, he heads off to the gym to pick up the heaviest weights he can manage so he can pump out his frustrations. He doesn’t stop till his arms are too sore and he can’t even shrug his shoulders, then plods his way through the showers and back home. Except when he’s walking out the gym doors, he catches in the corner of his eye a familiar figure running down the tracks, back towards him, and he does a double take. He could recognize that back profile anywhere, not that he’s spent the last few weeks turning back to stare after their pass, he’s not creepy like that. _So, Green Eyes is running here now_ , Will thinks. Not that it matters, of course. Not like he’s going to start talking to him.

 

Derek is disappointed that when he returns to the gym slightly earlier the next day, he doesn’t see Red Beauty. He’s man enough to admit he was hoping to be able to see that beautiful ensemble of color and freckles and those adorable big ears and hot damn those triceps, and _oh he’s fucked_.

 

Will is disappointed that when he dallies for a bit the next day, hangs around the office a little longer so that he can head to the gym later and run around the tracks there to try them out, he doesn’t see Green Eyes. He was kinda hoping to be able to run up from behind that broad back with the wide shoulders, long limbs, glorious ass and Green Eyes is so _tall_ , Will always had trouble finding boys who were tall enough for his liking and _oh he’s so fucked_.

 

Derek heads to the gym a full hour after his classes end the next day. He doesn’t know what he was hoping for, maybe for Red Beauty to come in later or something? He doesn’t see hide nor tail of his crush, and just spends a pitiful half hour on the stationary bikes pedaling like a zombie before trudging off, dejected.

 

Will does the stupidest thing he can think of, which is to walk from his apartment to campus the next day. He reasons that maybe it was a one time thing, seeing Green Eyes in the gym, and if he can stretch out the time between setting foot out the door and arriving at his office, he might bolster his chances of them crossing paths. It doesn’t work, and he ends up uncomfortable with a sniffling cold that night for all his troubles staying out in the freezing weather for so long.

 

Normally, Derek sleeps in on weekends, but he’s been feeling all kinds of mopey from not getting to see Red Beauty this week, and want to just take his mind off this stupid crush. He’ll just visit an art gallery, write some notes and maybe get inspired for his assignments. He ends up writing about empty spaces and cold winds and incompleteness. What a wreck, he thinks.

 

Typically, Will still wakes up in the wee hours on weekends, because it’s easier to maintain a regular sleep schedule, but he’s nursing his stupid cold and doesn’t emerge from his apartment to go to the animal rescue shelter he usually volunteers at until late in the morning. They ban him from working anyway, and he gets to cuddle some kittens and feels slightly better until he starts sneezing too much and they send him home so that he doesn’t spread his cold. It’s a rotten week, he feels.

 

Derek comes home to his shower not working and it is the worst. week. ever. He puts up a note on the building door asking for help, and to knock on his door or call his number if anyone in the building is handy with a wrench. He really needs his hot shower to clear his mind.

 

Will sees the note as he’s picking up his pizza delivery at the door because he’s too dispirited to bother making dinner. Might as well meet his neighbors and be useful, that should snap him out of his miserable funk.

 

Derek gets a text saying a certain Will from the 3rd floor will come by later to have a look at his pipes. 

 

Will knocks on the door with his toolbox in his other hand, feeling stuffed from the pizza. He only ate 2 slices, but he’s feeling something in his gut about standing in front of this Derek’s door. Something tingling at the base of his neck.

 

The door opens. Two men as tall as each other lock gazes straight on, and after a few moments of being stunned, one breaks out into a dazzling grin, and the other tries to hold back a chuckle. They end up laughing, big hearty belly-laughter, recognizing the absurdity of their situation, and enter the apartment. The door closes with a click, but the laughter continues late into the night.

 

Derek and Will have a new routine now. Derek still heads out to campus for his morning classes, and Will still wakes up much too early to start work, but he takes the bus out instead and heads straight to the gym, where Derek will be waiting for him. They have lunch together too, and sometimes, Will stays behind to do his evening work on campus, just to take the bus back home together will Derek after the ESL classes late at night. If they occasionally find an empty classroom and lock the doors and lower the blinds, well, nobody has to know.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Find me on [tumblr](http://ohjustletmewriteinpeace.tumblr.com).


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